Chasing Dusk: Where Sicily Glows, the Mind Wanders

Some sunsets aren’t just picturesque — they’re transformative. At the Rocco Forte Private Villas on Sicily’s western coast, dusk becomes a ritual, a curated immersion in silence, beauty, and slow luxury. For 2025, that experience reaches new heights through the Chasing the Sunset itinerary — a journey designed for aesthetes, romantics, and those who understand that the best moments in life happen just before nightfall.

This is Sicily beyond the postcards: raw, ancient, elemental. The itinerary unfolds across five stops — one per day — inviting guests to explore gardens forgotten by time, untouched coastlines, hilltop villages suspended in light, and saline landscapes that look lunar at dusk. Every experience is timed to align with the golden hour — that rare moment when beauty sharpens, time softens, and presence becomes inevitable.

Begin in a secret citrus grove beside the Valley of the Temples. Originally cultivated by Cistercian monks in the 18th century, it now hosts private chic-nics among fragrant herbs and crumbling columns. As the sun bathes Agrigento’s ruins in molten gold, guests savor Sicilian specialties and curated wines. Evening tours of the temples themselves extend the enchantment.

The next day, trade stone for sand at the Torre Salsa Nature Reserve, a WWF sanctuary of cliffs, dunes, and wild orchids. A guided walk leads to Bovo Marina beach, where the sunset reflects on your plate — every bite born of the land or sea, enjoyed mere meters from the shore.

Then climb. Caltabellotta sits 950 metres above the sea, where views stretch from Agrigento to Marsala. Wander its narrow alleys, visit the Cathedral and Castle of Queen Sibilla, and stop at a local pastry shop where cannoli are still made by hand. As twilight cloaks the ridges, the village exhales — and so will you.

The penultimate stop is otherworldly: the salt pans of Isola Lunga. Cross the Stagnone Lagoon by boat to reach a landscape carved by wind, water, and time. At the disused Fra Giovanni salt pans, float effortlessly in saline pools or recline on mineral-rich crusts. A wellness ritual, yes — but also a surrender. As the sky turns rose and silver, guests can toast the day or capture it forever with a professional photo session.

And always, you return home. Rocco Forte’s Private Villas — spacious, contemporary, and rooted in Sicilian tradition — are your sanctuary. Three or four bedrooms, sea-facing terraces, private pools. This season, the Villas unveil new experiences: sunset yoga in the gardens, champagne tastings with sommelier Nando Papa, and stargazing sessions led by an astrophysicist who brings the night sky to life.

 

You don’t chase the sunset here. You meet it halfway. Slowly, luxuriously, and with intention.

This is not a vacation. It’s a state of being.

Rocco Forte Private Villas at Verdura Resort
SS 115, Km 131, 92019 Sciacca (AG), Sicily, Italy
More info & bookings: www.roccofortehotels.com